Rediscovering Sistema Ek Be

Ek Be (Star Road in Maya) is a name that we heard many times. In a mail we exchanged, Jim Coke called it a “Lost Cave” and explained to us that it had been explored in the early nineties but that the data in his possession was not complete and he was unaware of the cave exact location.

The idea of finding it and bringing it back to light was obviously fascinating. We knew that Ek Be was in the area between Dos Ojos and Xunaan Ha, between these huge systems there is a vast unknown area that calls for exploration. We could not resist and a couple of weeks ago we decided to go scouting in the jungle looking for it.

Our only reference was a GPS way point Jim had passed us, it was the location of Cenote Zotz, and not far from it we should find our cave. After a three hour long jungle walk we found ourselves at the edge of a big collapse filled with vegetation, we descended into it and promptly found what we were looking for: cavern and water!
Unfortunately it was already dusk and we had to head back without checking for cave. A few days ago, April 1st, we went back to the spot to open up a small path and search for existing line or virgin cave.

Jumping in the water after fighting the jungle was already a pleasure but it was nothing compared to what the cave offered us: free diving from our entrance it was just a short swim before we could see light coming from the other side, a small dive and we reemerged into another and equally beautiful cenote! We were so fascinated and excited that at first we did not notice the blackened old line running a few feet deeper: that was it! We were definitely swimming in the cavern of Ek Be.

In the next days we intend to go back to the cave and start a resurvey of the existing lines and possibly to do new cave exploration.

We will keep you posted!! Quiet Diver Exploration Team.

P.s.: Jim Coke from QRSS collected the survey he received from the explorers of the Ek Be system. They were taken in 1993 and 1994 by Buddy Quattlebaum, Gary Walten, Kay Walten, Steve Gerrard, Tom Flynn, Hilaire Hiler, Frans Vandermolen.

Thanks to Jim and the first explorers, we hope we can keep up with your efforts back in that great era of Cave Exploration.